What's happening today: A little later this morning, the Obamas will begin an edited version of Abraham Lincoln's 12-day train journey to his inauguration, boarding a vintage private railway carriage at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. (The carriage has been fitted with broadband internet, just as in Lincoln's day.) It'll be hauled by an Amtrak locomotive to Wilmington, Delaware, where they'll pick up the train-lovin' Bidens just after lunch, stopping in Baltimore in the mid-afternoon and reaching DC before evening, where he will singlehandedly land an airliner in the Potomac with no loss of life. Ten everyday Americans will join him on the train; thousands of others, Amtrak warns, will have their Saturday train travel disrupted. George Bush is hunkered down in Camp David, muttering to himself. If you're in DC, you can attend a glamorous party, or alternatively an edifying cultural event.

Authorities are keeping a close eye on white supremacists as the swearing-in approaches, though the more vocal ones claim to be pleased about his election because it'll raise "white consciousness." Whatever. [New York Daily News]

Washington DC panhandlers gloomily expect little change in the amount of change they'll receive as millions head to town to celebrate change. [DC Examiner]

Soliciting prostitutes is illegal in DC, but during the Inauguration it's going to be really, really illegal: swathes of downtown, where the ceremonies will take place, have been declared a "Prostitution Free Zone". This expires at the end of the week, whereupon, doubtless to the relief of some Congressmen, it'll be merely illegal again. [DCist]

Just in case you foolishly interpreted his election campaign speeches to imply otherwise, Obama tells CNN he "always thought [George Bush] was a good guy." [CNN]